


Just One of Those Ghosts (Misguided Memories)

by tamerofdarkstars



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, I tried to write from Kikyou's perspective, Shade, Soulless!Kikyou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-23
Updated: 2012-11-22
Packaged: 2017-11-19 07:31:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamerofdarkstars/pseuds/tamerofdarkstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was a shade, a lingering imprint of death floating through the world on the wind, surrounded by the unnatural lights of departed souls... And she had a mission that must be completed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Shade

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to try writing from Soulless!Kikyou's perspective, and, well, this is what happened. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy :)

She was a shade, a lingering imprint of death floating through the world on the wind, surrounded by the unnatural lights of departed souls. Her catchers snaked around her, hugging her body and fluttering under her hair. They were drawn, drawn as others were repelled by the empty, hollow space that once held a beating heart and a strong, impassioned soul. Her long black hair swished as she glided silently through the twisting, gnarled trees and she found herself thinking detachedly of life and of those she'd left living behind.

She felt no happiness, no pang of sadness or grief—she was a shade, a reanimated body of magic and earth, and shades had no use for dull human emotions. The only thing her soul felt for certain was the hollow thud of vengeance—the need to fulfill her duty to that filthy half-demon who'd destroyed her work, the peace she'd struggled so hard to keep in life, all muddied in a single afternoon by his treachery and selfishness.

She pressed her lips into a tight line and the feeling of vengeance intensified—it did not grow into anger. The only time she felt true emotion was after the absorption of a recently departed soul, and then, only slight bursts of the petty annoyance. Patience was what the shade heeded. Patience, planning, and her own intelligence.

Suddenly, she froze, no breath to betray her body's motionless state—the catchers lingered, casting an ominous glow to the scene before her eyes. The small bird, blue in color, fluttered helplessly on the path in front of her, its eyes glazed over in pain, one wing trailing uselessly on the ground as it struggled. Silently, she stepped forward and lifted the tiny creature in slim, chalk-white hands…hands that had once been warm and eager to please and protect and were now nothing more than a means to an end.

The shade focused on the spirit of the pitiful creature in front of her and felt its soul slip from its body. The catchers slithered around the small, glowing orb, caressing it before allowing it to slowly drift away. In her hands, the carcass was stiff and unmoving, already growing cold with the absence of life. She slowly lowered it to the ground, laying it softly down on a bed of grass before continuing on her way.

She moved silently and surely for a long while, listening to the sounds of the living forest, yet making no sound of her own. Animals trembled and fled her presence, sensing the lifelessness inside her. Without warning, the shade found herself in a small but open clearing. The birds were silent as she gazed at Inuyasha's Tree without expression on her pale face.

In life, the shade was aware that she'd known this section of woods as well as she had known the half-demon for which they were now named. She raised her head. The village was nearby and—she froze, every part of her reanimated body motionless. This spiritual pressure… how… familiar it was. It was her. Her reincarnation. That girl from the future.

Her face twitched grimly. She was with him. His pressure was just as unique as was the time-traveling girl's. 

Kagome.

The thought of her name sent an influx of strength into the vengeful desire that made up the shade's soul. That girl was attempting to do what the shade had been reanimated to do… It would not do to allow that girl to slip into the gap the shade's death had left open. There could only be one of them in the world and her world, her future time, did not belong in the current era. She disrupted the flow of time—she was misplaced. She didn't belong.

The shade slipped through the trees, moving at a faster pace than before. Above her head, the catchers sped up, feeding her souls to keep her body moving. She was so used to the sudden influx of power—like a thirsty man drinking a cool glass of water—and the rush of human emotion that she barely noticed it anymore. Then, her reincarnation's pressure disappeared.

She paused. Inuyasha was on the move now, and the shade seamlessly altered her path to intercept him, her plans changing as rapidly as they had been designed. 

He stopped and, looking up into the trees, she saw the telltale flash of red that used to fill her heart with passion and joy—when she'd had a heart. Slowly and silently, the shade reached back and drew the sleek red bow from her back, drawing back an arrow with the practiced ease of a master.

She aimed carefully… one release of the string and Inuyasha would have drawn his last breath. She had certainly given him enough of a chance to destroy Naraku, and all he had managed to do was allow that girl to destroy the Shikon Jewel. And now, time was running out and Naraku was gaining power. Soon, it would be impossible to destroy him.

Above her head, the soul catchers danced and twisted, and the wind blew softly, sending strands of her long hair up into her face. High in the tree, Inuyasha suddenly snapped to attention, looking around for the source of her scent. She lowered the bow.

There was a light thud as Inuyasha landed on the forest floor, his bare feet crunched the fallen leaves. A moment passed before his rough, husky voice filled the trees.

"…Kikyo?"

She frowned slightly at the sound of her past name on his lips. In the past, she understood that the way his lips formed around the syllables of her name had given her pleasure. She stepped backwards into the deepest shadows, sharp eyes never leaving her target, bow up and tightly drawn once again.

He stepped forward, eyes searching the dimly lit trees, his nose slightly up in the air, sniffing.

"Kikyo, I know you're there."

Sadness had layered his tones. The shade looked up sharply, and her catchers responded, swirling around her and effectively dimming their lights.

"Damn it, Kikyo, come out here and talk to me!" He sounded frustrated. After a long pause, he spoke again. This time, his voice was soft and sad. "Look, Kikyo, I…"

Suddenly, his head snapped upwards. She could see his long white hair whip easily through the dim trees.

"So soon?" His murmur was as clear to her ears as if he'd whispered it while standing right next to her. She watched impassively as he bit his lip, alternating looking between her hiding place and off somewhere into the distance.

Her spiritual pressure was back. This must be the cause of Inuyasha's distress. The shade watched the half-demon. Finally, he looked at her hiding place. "Kikyo." He gave a sigh. "I'm sorry."

He spun and in a flash he was gone, bounding upwards through the trees, a flash of red among the dense green.

Slowly, the shade lowered her bow. Another time then. She turned and slipped away through the trees, towards the sunset. Her catchers followed, snaking through the air. For reasons unknown, the shade paused in her soft glide out of the clearing and looked backwards. Then she turned and continued walking, leaving Inuyasha's Tree as alone as it had been before, the silent guardian over a lost time.


	2. And Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, ok, this was really just me playing with perspective. :)

"I'll be back soon." She flashed him that ever annoying smile that seemed to make him want to do anything she asked. She grabbed that obnoxiously yellow backpack and her accursed mechanical contraption… her "bike". Kagome Higurashi turned away from him and walked the bike to the well's entrance. She leaned the bike on the edge of the rough wooden frame and turned back one last time. A soft breeze blew from the south-west and blew her hair up around her head, tossing her scent into his face with the force of a sledgehammer.

He forced himself to quell the urge to throw back his head and breathe in her scent, merely grunting a non-committal noise in farewell. She turned away from him and dropped into the well. There was a brief flash of light, and her scent pattern and the tug of the Shikon shards faded. He turned away, his long white hair swinging in the deadened breeze and leapt lightly from the ground to a tree branch high above the well. The moment his bare feet touched the rough wood of the tree, he was in the air again, bounding towards Kaede's village. A few more trees, and he was in sight of the tiny village, the village where he'd first met her… met both of them.

Kikyo had been the first… he'd loved her. He'd readily admit that now. Maybe not out loud, but certainly to himself. She had had him convinced that the best use   
of the Jewel of Four Souls would be to transform himself completely human and live out his days with her a happier, albeit weaker form of himself. He'd been prepared to do just that… until the day she'd attacked him. Bleeding and gasping, she'd pinned him to what was now referred to as 'Inuyasha's Tree', and there he'd stayed, believing in his hazy dreamlike slumber that the only woman he'd ever loved had betrayed and abandoned him. He'd vowed that day to never again trust another human, least of all a filthy female.

Then he met Kagome.

Kagome was… different. As he sat on the branch, gazing down at the ant-like figures of the humans working hard in the fields of the village, he snorted to himself. Different was being kind. She may be the reincarnation of his resurrected love, but Kagome was nothing like Kikyo. And here, while she was far away, it was all he could do to sit and wait for her return. Someday, he vowed to himself, he'd make it so she couldn't go back. He wanted her with him, here, at least so he could keep an eye on her. That blasted female was always getting into trouble.

He felt a low, rumbling laugh thrill through him as he leaned backwards against the tree, keeping a small portion of his over-developed senses fixed on the wind so he could smell her the moment she returned. Why did she even want to return to her world so badly? Was… was he not good enough for her?  
Pain lanced through his heart, a pain he wasn't quite expecting, a pain he hadn't felt since he'd faced down a furiously dying Kikyo in the clearing. He gripped his Tetsusagia tightly. He knew he wasn't good enough for her. He knew it. He was, after all, only a half-demon. A half-blood. An outcast. When they'd collected all the Jewel shards, then he'd become a full demon and then… then, he would always be able to protect her.

He sighed, frustrated, and leaned backwards against the tree, releasing the death grip on his Tetsusagia. He had never had to protect Kikyo. She wouldn't let him… of course, she had been in complete control of her powers, and had been training her entire life to be priestess. Kagome… that girl had had as much priestess training as Shippo had. And yet…

The wind shifted. His ears twitched and he sat bolt-upright on the tree branch. That scent… it couldn't be. He took a deep breath… but it was. It was as though just thinking about her had conjured her to him. That faint familiar odor almost completely overpowered by the stench of earth and death. Kikyo.

He jumped lightly from the tree branch to the forest floor below. Thud. He scanned the trees, the lighting too jagged and dim for even his sharp eyes to see clearly. His nostrils were filled with the scent of her.

"…Kikyo?"

Nothing happened. The wind continued to blow heavy waves of her scent towards him… it was becoming more than he could bear.

"Kikyo, I know you're there."

Nothing moved. Even his sharp eyes couldn't penetrate the dense foliage surrounding the tree. He placed a clawed hand on the torn up bark of the tree that bore his name and glared angrily into the forest, as though it had done him a personal offense.

"Damn it, Kikyo, come out here and talk to me!" His frustration was mounting. Why was she not simply coming to talk to him? That was all he wanted… she'd talked to him before. Several times. "Look, Kikyo, I…"

Suddenly, the wind shifted. His head snapped up and he stared off into the distance. Kagome's scent… it was back. She was back… and he wasn't at the well waiting for her. "So soon?" He whispered, almost without realizing. Suddenly, Kikyo's scent hit him in full force again. Blasted wind. The half demon growled deep in his throat at the fickle force. It was playing with his nose, taunting him with first Kikyo's scent, and then Kagome's. Back and forth, back and forth. It was starting to make him sick.

He thought briefly of Kagome and suddenly, his mind started to race. What was Kagome going to think when he wasn't by the well? Unless they'd fought, he was always there, waiting for her. Otherwise, she could get attacked by the petty demons that roamed this forest, looking for unsuspecting humans like her. An image of Kagome being ripped to shreds flashed into his mind and Inuyasha found his feet moving him towards the well. Suddenly, he remembered Kikyo.

He glanced back to the section of trees he knew were shielding the woman he lov—what used to be the woman he had loved. "I'm sorry." He whispered. He then turned and bounded upwards into the trees, away from the clearing and the memories threatening to drown him.

He arrived at the well in record time, pausing on a thick branch suspended above the Bone Eater's Well. He looked down at the head of dark hair. She was looking around her, holding the handle bars of her bike thing in confusion.

"Inuyasha?" She whispered. Something inside Inuyasha recognized the fear in her voice and he realized she was worried that something had happened to him. A warm fiery feeling snaked up his insides and his heart thudded against his chest. Stupid woman… he could take care of himself. It was she that needed the care and the worry…

Inuyasha stepped off the branch and landed lightly on the ground in front of her. Kagome shrieked and fell backwards onto the ground. She glared up at him.

"Where have you been?" She demanded. Inuyasha slipped his hands into his sleeves and crossed his ankles.

"I… was thinking." He said. She didn't move. "You're going to get dirty." He pointed out.

Kagome glanced at the ground, exasperated. "Then help me up!" She reached up, her slim white hand expectant.

Inuyasha stared at the hand as though it might bite him. Slowly, he reached out his own hand and grasped hers. He forcibly tugged her to her feet and she grabbed the front of his kimono to steady herself. They were suddenly very close together.

Inuyasha felt his pulse skyrocket. A flush flew over his cheeks as he stared down at the slim dark-haired priestess.

"U-Um, Inuyasha? You can let go of my hand now." Kagome's voice was an octave higher than it usually was and it sent a shiver down the half-demon's spine.

"Right. Sorry." He growled, releasing her and stepping back. "Come on." He muttered. "Sango and the Monk are waiting for us."

Kagome rolled her eyes and leaned her bike against the well. She stepped through the grass and her slim arms encircled his neck as they had done so many times before. Inuyasha took a deep breath in and, smiling, found himself surrounded by her scent. He bounded lightly up into the treetops with Kagome on his back and headed towards the village.

Towards home.


End file.
